Electric Service

[jude]

Hi All. Thanks so much for sharing your great experience and knowledge. Here's one I am not too sure about.

We have an old house that started with a temp/mobilehome pole with the meter base and shutoff on it. It apparently rotted and fell over during the last hurricane and had just been left to rot. The boxes and connections look rusty enough to need replaced. The building has been added to and added to and finally is a house with a crawlspace. It's in pretty bad shape but we want to fix it up. (We've already answered the WHY question at least 1000 times)

First thing we need to do is get the electric turned back on, so we talked with the electric co-op and also got the electric permit from inspection. So the co-op tells us we are responsible for installing the mast/riser, the meter base, the shut off and then running to the panel.

The existing panel is now located in the middle of the house, in a hallway, so we are gonna turn it around and it will be in the utility room. But still 25 feet from the meter base. Electric co-op said the 25 feet run was OK in conduit run through the crawl space.

We have done the service drop thing twice before. But have always had the box on the opposite side of the wall, never 25 feet away. The co- op said it must be 4 wire all the way. Got me there.

Will someone please (sorry, feel like I am asking how to hold my fork, but this 64 year old is more cautious than the 25 year old was!) walk me through the 4 wire wiring. The cutoff which will be located outside right under the meter). The mast will be against the outside wall and then through the overhang with the metal conduit pipe. I have opened up the inside wall to add additional support for the mast pipe to be attached to. So the course will be: Electric co-op to the mast. My run will be from the mast; into the meter base, through and into the cut-off switch, then out of the cutoff through down 6 feet through conduit then a turn into and through the crawlspace wall in conduit, then running in conduit the 25 feet to a turn at the base of the panel then up through the wall and into to the panel.

I think it is the fourth wire and neutral and ground that is getting to me. Or it just might be when I was 25 I knew I would be there if anything went wrong! Now I am not too sure how long it might be to go wrong!

Thanks all, Dave

[RBM]

If your service disconnect is not near the point that the entrance cable enters the building, such as in this case, you must have a disconnect on the outside of the building. From the location of that disconnect, you need to separate the neutral from the ground, so your panel will require two hots, one neutral, and one ground, from the outside disconnect to the remote main panel

[DanG]

What are you asking?

You will need to decide what amperage of panel you have or intend to have. This will decide what size wire you will need. The size of the wire will determine the size of the conduit required. It sounds as if your crawl space conduit run will only have 2 90's (maximum 4). Next larger conduit makes it much easier to pull wire - you will need help. Depending on how high the weatherhead is, it may also require some help.

[Tom J]

Is that 25 feet including the drop from the meter, the run through the crawl space and then the rise to the breaker panel? Also if the panel is an old fuse panel, most insurance companies will require it be replaced with a breaker panel.

I just finished going through that!!

Tom J

[Joe]

Might simplify the project if you avoided the mast/weatherhead situation and just went underground to the meterbase. Seem to me that would be more stable with hurricanes a possibility. Costs a bit more more, but the reliability is worth it.

Joe

[HeyBub]

I bet the mean 4 GAUGE, not 4 conductors.